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Text description provided by the architects. Designed to be environmentally sustainable, the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) South Intermodal Facility is situated at the corner of Airways Boulevard and Brooks Road in Memphis, Tennessee. This 30,000 square foot building is a satellite center, built to decentralize the existing routing pattern to a hub and spoke concept. The facility is seeking LEED Silver certification.

The building’s main function serves as a shared waiting room with access to a food service counter, vending machines, a video game area, and large public restrooms. The building also includes 36 canopy-covered bus berths, 70 parking spaces, a ticket and package handling area, driver operations area, and administrative offices, and leasable spaces for vendors.

The facility also includes a new home for Greyhound Lines Inc. which provides national interstate bus service. The west side of the building has a 30 foot deep roof overhang covering nine Greyhound bus spaces for passenger arrival and departure. This canopy has a continuous skylight roof monitor to bring natural light to the walkway next to the building. Other tenants include a small police station and a retail lease space on the south end of the building. In addition, the site design allows for the possibility of a future light rail transit stop connecting downtown to the airport.

This facility is a statement on transportation. Combining ground transportation, light-rail with access to the Memphis/Shelby County International Airport, the client wanted a building that reflected the imagery of 21st Century transportation. The building appears to be “in-flight” with it wings, clad in aluminum panels, soaring toward the sky.

One wing is enclosed housing the administrative and retail offices for Greyhound and the local regional transit system. The other wing is open-air providing covered access to passengers waiting to board buses and future light-rail cars. The interior public spaces incorporate a large suspended commissioned art work which is an abstract celebration of all forms of transportation.